


Tales of the Shatterdome

by hybryd0



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: M/M, Pacific Rim AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-06
Updated: 2018-07-06
Packaged: 2019-05-31 15:43:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15122636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hybryd0/pseuds/hybryd0
Summary: Life in the Shatterdome is rarely boring no matter if you're a Ranger-in-training or a jumphawk pilot. These are those stories.





	1. Djoos/Burakovsky

“Do I even want to ask how this happened?”

“Is Dima’s fault.”

Andre bites his lip to try to keep from smiling as he listens to the exchange between Doctor Holtby, Ranger Kuznetsov, and Ranger Orlov, the last of which exclaims something indignantly in Russian at the accusation. He’s trying to focus on doing inventory like Holts told him to, but he’s been half distracted since the two Russian pilots came into the infirmary. Kuzy always manages to be entertaining even when he’s suffering from a nasty burn on his arm, the source of which he refuses to reveal.

It was probably something stupid. In Andre’s experience it’s almost always either an accident or a case of a momentary lapse in judgement.

“Erm.”

The hesitant noise comes from the door and almost can’t be heard over the bickering of Kuzy and Orly, but Andre has a pretty good ear and it catches his attention anyway. Glancing up he finds a young man he hasn’t seen before standing in the doorway, eyes flicking around the room with obvious wariness. He’s also holding a blood soaked cloth to some kind of wound on his arm.

Andre hops up immediately and snaps on a pair of latex gloves as he moves towards the stranger. “Ah, a new face! Welcome to the infirmary, hopefully you won’t spend as much time here as these losers.”

“Hey!” Kuzy and Orly exclaim in unified indignance. Andre ignores them and motions towards one of the empty exam tables.

“Stop moving,” Holts says in the calm, authoritative way he has when he’s working. Few dare to disobey.

The stranger still looks wary, but he follows Andre’s direction and gingerly climbs up to the exam table. Andre has had enough experience as a medic now to be used to the skittishness with which a lot of people regard the infirmary and anyone even remotely associated with the medical field. They might appreciate that he patches them up, but they’re rarely actually excited to be here.

“Relax, I promise I don’t bite,” Andre tells the man with a grin that he hopes might settle his nerves.

“Not unless he ask, no?” Kuzy pipes up unhelpfully.

The man flushes and it takes all of Andre’s professionalism to keep his eyes from tracking it, though he does still allow himself to wonder how far it goes. There’s no denying the man is attractive and honestly Andre probably would bite him if he asked, but only in private. Exibitionism is more Tom’s thing.

“I said stop moving,” Holtby says with a little less patience than the last time.

“Yeah, stop moving,” Orly parrots, and Andre can just hear the impish grin in his voice.

“And you, go wait outside.”

“Are they always like that?” The man asks.

Andre doesn’t bother looking up from examining the wound. “Yes. They’re harmless though.”

“I see.”

The wound is a messy and ragged tear along the man’s forearm, but it’s mostly already stopped bleeding from the cloth that had been pressed to it. He still cleans it carefully and regards it for a moment before deciding it’s not quite bad enough to require stitches.

“So, what’s your name?” Andre questions as he gathers the supplies he needs to finish up. “I’m guessing you’re either a lot better at avoiding injury than most of the personnel here or you’re new.”

“Christian Djoos. I’m a new jumphawk pilot.”

Andre perks up. “I was almost a ‘hawk pilot.”

“Yeah?” Christian asks, looking slightly more interested.

“Yeah, but they needed medics more when I came to the ‘dome so I signed up for that instead,” Andre explains as he’s working. “I like helping people.”

“Seems like you chose the right profession then,” Christian says quietly. Andre can’t quite figure out if he’s shy or just naturally quiet.

“Cute,” Kuzy remarks. It’s followed by the sound of a thwap and a yelp. “Ow! Doctors supposed to help, not hurt.”

“Sometimes we do both,” Holts says dryly. “Now stop pestering my medic and go make trouble somewhere else. Safely.”

“So mean to me,” Kuzy protests, but he does get up and head for the door. There’s an explosion of loud Russian that gets softer as they walk away.

“I swear I’m going to start finding gray hairs any day now,” Holts says with unmistakable exasperated fondness. “Need any help over there?”

“Nah, I’m about finished up,” Andre replies. “How’d you manage to do this anyway?” He directs the question towards Christian.

“I, uh, got my arm stuck and ripped it free,” Christian says, his face coloring a pretty shade of pink. Andre can’t help but stare for a moment until he catches himself and focuses back on finishing up.

“Got your arm stuck how?”

“I dropped a tool into a tight space on my hawk and reached for it.” The like an idiot is silently implied.

“Don’t they have techs to work on the hawks for you?”

Christian blinks like he doesn’t comprehend the question. “It’s my hawk,” he says as if that explains it at all. Maybe it does. He’s friends with enough of the pilots that the sentiment isn’t much of a surprise.

“All done,” Andre reports and takes a step back. 

Christian looks down as if to examine Andre’s work, then shoots him a small smile. “Thanks, doc.”

“Oh, I’m not a doctor,” Andre says quickly. “There’s only four doctor’s on the medical staff. The rest of us are nurses or medical officers, like me.”

“I see.”

There’s a snort from Holts’ direction. “Isn’t it time for you to take lunch?”

“What? No, I--” Andre cuts himself up abruptly as he sees the vaguely amused look Braden is giving him and the way the older man’s eyes cut from him, over to Christian, and then back again. He very pointedly raises his eyebrows. “Oh, uh, look at the time. It is time for my lunch break.”

“Uh…” Christian trails off, gaze flickering over to Braden, but his face has already smoothed out.

“Would you like to join me for lunch? I can introduce you to some of the guys. There’s always someone in there.” Andre stops himself before he rambles too much. He can feel his own face flushing to match the pink that’s still clinging to Christian’s cheeks.

“Can I wash my hands first?”


	2. Compher/Jost

The shatterdome is never exactly quiet, but there’s still something almost peaceful about it in the dead of night. There’s only a small crew that works at night and curfew means all of the cadets are in bed. Well, almost all of them.

JT watches as some of the maintenance crew work on repairs to Triton Zero. It’s not the smartest thing he’s ever done because Ranger Johnson will have his ass if he catches him, but it’s become a habit for him to sneak out at night when he can’t sleep and just enjoy the closest thing to peace and quiet he’s likely to find in the shatterdome. It’s interesting to watch the crews work and learn a little bit more about what goes on behind the scenes to keep the jaegers going.

And it usually helps distract him from what’s keeping him from sleeping.

Usually.

Tonight is an exception because of what the morning brings and the dread eating up space in his stomach.

“Ranger Johnson will have your ass in a sling if he catches you out here.”

JT just barely manages to keep from jumping and revealing just how startled he is. He does immediately get to his feet and stand at attention.

He mentally thanks whatever luck is on his side that it’s Ranger Barrie that’s caught him. Everyone knows Barrie is a pushover compared to Johnson.

Barrie raises an eyebrow at him. “Want to explain to me why you’re out of bed well past curfew?”

Or. Usually he’s the pushover out of all the Rangers.

“I couldn’t sleep, sir,” JT answers honestly. He’s already caught, there’s no reason to lie now.

“So you thought you’d sneak out of the cadet quarters and take a midnight stroll through the shatterdome?”

JT flounders for a moment. He knows Barrie will appreciate honesty, but does he really want to tell a Ranger that he’s afraid of drifting for the first time? That is to say, he’s afraid of what his drift partner will see. Everything.

Maybe Barrie sees a little of that in JT’s eyes, because his face softens a little and he walks forward to take a seat. “Sit.”

JT quickly obeys. Maybe he’ll get out of this without having to clean Triton Zero’s foot with a toothbrush. Again.

“I couldn’t sleep the night before my first drift test either,” Barrie says and takes a swallow from the bottle of beer JT didn’t notice before. “I was afraid of what Nate would see. And what I’d see from him.”

“Why?” JT asks, surprised. He knows why he’s afraid of drifting with Josty, but it can’t be the same reason for Barrie’s fear.

Barrie snorts. “I was afraid he’d judge me for what he’d see.” He takes another drink and then offers the bottle to JT. JT takes the offering without pointing out that he’s underage. “Believe it or not, most of us were afraid to drift the first time. Even Landesnerd, though he’d never admit it.”

As he thought, their reasons are definitely not the same.

Barrie eyes him speculatively and he really wishes he didn’t feel like such an open book to all of the Rangers. He takes a sip of the beer to try to hide his unease.

“Wanna tell me why you’re so worried about drifting with Cadet Jost, or should I take a wild guess?”

JT frowns down at the beer bottle.

Barrie makes an annoyed noise and takes back his beer. “Listen, you’ve got to be able to trust your drift partner. With everything. So if you’re already doubting him then there’s no reason for you to bother trying to drift and we should tell EJ to find you a new drift partner.”

“No!” JT exclaims, louder than he meant to considering he’s not supposed to be here. “I don’t want to drift with anyone else.”

“But you don’t trust Jost with your feelings?”

JT’s head snaps up in surprise. “How do you--.”

“Please, don’t insult me, I have eyes, y’know.”

Oh god, has he really been that obvious? 

Again, Barrie must be able to read the panic on his face as he snorts and shakes his head. “Relax kid, pretty sure he’s just as oblivious as you are.”

“What?”

“You’ll figure it out,” Barrie replies. He downs the rest of the beer and then pushes to his feet. “C’mon cadet, I’ll walk you back to the barracks.”

JT gets to his feet and obediently follows Barrie back towards the living quarters of the shatterdome. He doesn’t feel any closer to being able to sleep, but if he’s gotten away with being caught without punishment then he’ll be happy to just lay awake in bed for the rest of the night. Maybe he’ll manage to fall asleep anyway.

“Cadet, what the hell are you doing out of bed?”

Oh no. JT internally groans. Figures his luck wouldn’t hold out.

“Sir, I--.”

“We were practicing stealth.”

Ranger Johnson gives Barrie the most dubious look JT has ever seen on anyone’s face. “Practicing...stealth.”

“Yup,” Barrie says cheerfully, popping the ‘p’ obnoxiously.

JT tries his best to meet Johnson’s eyes when they swivel to fix on him. He is in so much trouble.

“Is that right, cadet?”

This is possibly the most no win situation he’s ever found himself it. It’s obvious Johnson knows Barrie is lying. Practicing stealth, honestly. What the fuck kind of answer was that?

“Aw lay off, EJ. You were a cadet once too, you know what the night before the first drift is like,” Barrie speaks up while JT is panicking about how to answer.

To JT’s surprise, something in Johnson’s expression gives a little and he sighs. “Don’t make a habit of this, cadet, or you’ll clean every inch of Spartan Fury’s foot with a toothbrush. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes sir,” JT says and hastily snaps a salute like that’ll keep Johnson from changing his mind.

“Good, now get back to the barracks.”

That’s all the permission JT needs to hustle away. The two Rangers don’t follow him, but he doesn’t dare deviate even a little bit from heading straight to the barracks. He has a feeling that somehow Johnson would know if he didn’t.

The room is dark when he sneaks back in, a beam of light cutting across the sleeping faces of some of his fellow cadets before he steps in and the door closes behind him. It’s quiet save for the sound of soft breathing and the occasional snore from one of the guys; he’d bet Big Z, but he’s not about to bring it up to him. Kerfy shifts where he’s sleeping in a top bunk and his sheet flutters to the floor.

JT makes his way to the back of the room to his bunk and pauses briefly to look at the top bunk where Josty is sleeping peacefully. His heart clenches wondering how things are going to change in the morning. Will Josty still smile at him? Will he even want to drift with him?

Letting out a sigh, JT strips down to his boxers and crawls into his bunk. Maybe if he pretends hard enough he’ll feel like he’s slept in the morning.

^^^^

“Alright, that’s it, I’ve seen enough,” Ranger Johnson’s voice booms through the speakers of the training room. “Compher, Jost, you’re out. Girard, Zadorov, get in there.”

There’s no point in arguing the matter. It’s obvious he and Josty aren’t going to get a good neural handshake going and it’s all his fault. And there’s no way Josty doesn’t know it; Josty, who was open and reaching while JT tried to close parts of himself off and hide.

JT hastily takes off the training gear, not looking at Josty as he does so, and then heads for the exit. They’re supposed to join the rest of the class on the observation deck, but JT turns the opposite way. Johnson is going to bust his ass, but at the moment he doesn’t care.

“Comph, hey,” Josty calls from behind him.

JT’s instincts say to run, but he’s not that much of a coward. And he knows he’s already hurt Josty’s feelings enough.

He stops and turns, but he can’t quite look at his friend. “Josty-”

“What the hell was that?” Josty demands.

“I, uh…”

“Why were you trying to hide from me?” 

“I wasn’t--”

“Why are you lying?”

“It’s not like that,” JT protests even though they both know it is exactly like that.

“Then what is it like?” The question could come off as accusatory from someone else, but he reads it for the genuine curiosity with a dash of confusion that it is. “I want to pilot a big kick ass robot with you, but that requires trust.”

“I trust you,” JT is quick to say and realizes in the moment that it’s true. He does trust Josty and he’s really just creating his own problem by letting his fear control him. It’s freeing in a way, like a weight has been lifted, and he lets out a soft sigh. “I was afraid you’d see how I feel.”

Josty asks earnestly interested. “About what? We can overcome anything together.”

JT has been such an idiot. He rubs a hand through his hair and down the back of his neck. “Let’s go talk to Ranger Johnson and see if he’ll give us another chance. I’d rather show you.”

It’s not easy to convince Ranger Johnson to let them take another go in the simulator, but eventually an elbow to the side from Ranger Barrie seems to sway him. They have to wait for everyone else to take their first turn before Johnson lets them go again.

This time JT isn’t nervous when he gears up. This time when he feels Josty reaching out, he lets himself open up and reach back. 

The connection feels like home, good, solid, and warm. A flood of feelings, emotions, and memories crash towards him like a tide, but he doesn’t fight them. He lets them rush by him, around him, and feels Josty doing the same. He feels the moment Josty gets to the feelings he’d been trying to hide and gets a rush of warmth, and amusement, in response.

“Neural handshake strong and holding,” Ranger Johnson announces. “Congratulations, cadets. Part of being partners is working through issues and understanding each other. It’s not always going to be easy, but it’s worth it.”

JT turns his head to grin and Josty, knowing his partner will be looking right back at him.

“Alright cadets, you’ve all got ten minutes to hydrate and take care of any other business and then report to the Kwoon Room.”

The simulator cuts off, the link between JT and Josty severs, and yet there’s still something there. It’s not nearly as strong as when they were drifting and he can’t feel anything more than a soft warmth there, but it feels good and right.

“That’s what you were hiding?” Josty teases as they head for the exit together. It’s just the two of them as the rest of the cadets had been on the observation deck along with the instructors.

“Hey, don’t mock my feelings,” JT says with false offense.

Josty’s whole face goes impossibly soft and JT wonders again how he could have missed the clues. “I would never.”

There’s a rush of emotion that’s entirely his own and he steps forward into Josty’s space. Josty watches him with a gentle smile and doesn’t move an inch. JT reaches up and curls his palm against the curve of Josty’s jaw and leans forward slowly to give the other boy a chance to move back. Josty doesn’t and their lips meet in the sweet, short press of a first kiss.

They pull back and grin stupidly at each other before a shout from down the hall cuts through the moment.

“Hey, glad to see you lovebirds got your shit together, but c’mon you don’t want to be late for Kwoon training!”

JT rolls his eyes at Kerfy’s words and Josty giggles in response. They don’t hold hands as they follow Kerfy to the mess hall.

But the pulse of the link between them, the bond that will grow as they drift together more, is all they really need.


End file.
